Three jaw vise



Patented May 8, 1951 OFFICE THREE JAW VISE Wesley M. Hamon and Maurice 0. Pearson, East Los Angeles, Calif.

Application December 18, 1947, Serial No. 792,384

1 Claim. 1

Our invention relates to three-way Vises and has for its principal object, to provide a simple, inexpensive and highly effective bench vise having three readily adjustable jaws, two of which are mounted so as to swing on vertical axes, thus enabling the vise jaws to be readily positioned so as to engage and clamp, at three points, work pieces, or objects of varying shapes and sizes, as well as straight pieces of work such as bars, tubes, rods and the like.

Further objects of our invention are, to provide a vise of the character referred to, which is swivelled or mounted so as to swing on a fixed base and thereby facilitate the handling and anchoring of work differing in length and shape, and further to provide simple means for readily adjusting the three jaws of the vise toward and away from each other.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, our invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of our improved vise with the jaws closed.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. V

Fig. 4 is a detail section taken on the line 1-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of our invention, Iii designates a base block adapted to be fixed on a bench or suitable support. Mounted to swing or swivel on a pin or stud II projecting upwardly from said base, is a block I2 which functions as the vise body and jaw carrier.

Formed integral with or fixed to block I2, are diametrically opposite brackets i3, carrying outwardly projecting arms or bars I4 which serve as rails for supporting the posts I6, which carry the oppositely disposed jaw blocks I8.

Mounted to rotate freely on studs which project upwardly from the tops of post members I6 are blocks I8, the inner or work contacting faces of which carry fixed liners or face plates I9, of hardened metal.

The ends of blocks i8 disposed adjacent the third jaw, hereinafter described, carry fixed liners 20 of hardened metal.

The lower portions of posts I6 are provided with horizontally disposed slots 2I, T-shape in cross section, the upper portions of which receive the bars I4.

Formed through the upper portion of block I2, is a horizontal bore 22, through which passes a rod 23, which is held against longitudinal movement by pins 24, driven into the top of block I2 and which pass through a circumferential groove 25 formed at the center of said rod (see Fig. 4). Rod 23, to one side of groove 25, has a right hand thread 26 and on the other side a left hand thread 2! and these threaded portions pass through correspondingly threaded bores 28 in posts I6.

One end of rod 23 carries a sliding cross handle 29a. Screw seated in a horizontal bore 29 formed through block I2 just below and at right angles to rod 23, is a threaded rod 39, one end thereof carrying a sliding cross handle 3|, and loosely mounted on said rod is a post 32, the upper end of which curves toward blocks I8, to form a jaw 33 and seated in the face thereof is a hardened metal plate 33. A horizontally disposed bar 35, projects from the lower portion of post 32 and slides freely through an aperture 36 in vise body or block I2.

In using the vise for straight work, such as rods, rails, tubes and the like, handle 29a and screw rod 23 are manipulated to move posts It toward each other, so that face plates I9 are in contact with one another, or spaced slightly apart, and after the work has been placed against said face plates, handle 3| and screw rod 30 are manipulated to move post 32 and jaw 33 toward the work, thereby firmly clamping same between the face plates 34 and 29 of said jaws.

To grip and hold an object or piece of work of irregular shape, for instance, a casting, screw rods 23 and 30 are rotated so as to separate these jaws and the blocks I8 are now shifted on their axes, the studs II, so as to move face plates I9 into angular positions relative to each other and to face plate 34 and after the work has been placed between the three plates, proper manipulation of screw rods 23 and 30 will move the jaws so that the face plates thereon will engage and firmly clamp the work at three different points.

An especially desirable feature of our invention is the employment of the pivoted blocks I8 on two of the jaws inasmuch as such structure enables said blocks to automatically adjust themselves when moved into clamping engagement with work of irregular shape.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a three jaw vise that is simple in structure, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

Minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of our improved three jaw vise may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the scope of the invention, as set forth in the appended claim.

We claim as our invention:

In a three jaw vise, a base, horizontally aligned arms projecting from opposite sides of said base, posts guided for sliding movement on said arms, blocks mounted for rotation on said posts and having a plurality of jaw faces, hardened metal liners on adjacent faces of said blocks, a horizontal rod having right and left hand threaded portions respectively engaging corresponding bores in said posts, a handle loosely carried byone end of said rod, means seated in said base 15 and engaging said threaded rod to hold same against longitudinal movement, a bar slidable through said base below and at right angles to the horizontal guiding axis of the arms thereon,

a third jaw integral with said sliding bar and 20 having a work-engaging face disposed at the same height as the jaw faces of said blocks, a screw rod swiveled in said third jaw and threaded into said base, and a handle on said screw rod.

WESLEY M. HAMON. MAURICE O. PEARSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 153,551 Evans July 28, 1874 340,429 Dickson Apr. 20, 1886 1,024,728, Jackson Apr. 30, 1912 1,250,092 Cook Dec. 11, 1917 1,372,661 Secord Mar. 22, 1921 2,322,380 Mosley June 22, 1943 

